While all of this mind bending revolutionary technology is taking place in a quest for sustainable solutions, there is also just plain ‘ole taking recycled material or waste product and repurposing it for another use instead of letting it sit in landfills forever.

PTS America with their full line of recycled newspaper and magazines in office desk accessories, 222 DECOR, makes a strong statement in desk accessories for the office. These are stiking looking designs, with real utility, and if it recyles a lot of newspaper and magazines in the process, it’ll be a winner. These two particular items are a magazine holder and a garbage can….the outside is made of water hyacinth and cotten thread with the inside made up of recycled magazines.

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Sarut Group (pronounced sa roo) who owns the Pylone Stores, (pronounced pee lone) four of them in Manhattan (Grand Central pictured top) but with a website and distribution in thousands of specialty retailers, catalog and chain stores. However, seeing all of it in one place is nothing short of a thrill.

New York Soho location

It’s a U.S. division in partnership with a French company….need I say more? I kept wanting to understand their design aesthetic better because it is not falling into any of my neat little trend descriptors. Is that because it is French? Because it is not retro….it is not this minimalist contemporary aesthetic…it is not referencing the Japanese Manga movement, so it is kind of going against the tide so is it ahead of it?

Fun, kitchy yet cool, and very clever. Clever. That’s my final word. Oprah named one of their items in her must have list, the umbrellas; and overall the press has loved the company, being referenced in In Style, O Home, and others….looking at it, I felt happy, it was a happy visit in their booth. And while the gents in charge were in and of themselves cool dudes, they were, dare I say, nice? A sort of French “Charles In Charge.” Ooh la la.

Tell me you wouldn’t be happy popping toast in those first thing in the morning (better than sugar, less fattening, less sweet and yet the results are the same…..a lift!).

They also have the answer for hip happening lighting, desk and ceiling.

But, they also have very cool kitchen utensils. You can see much more than I’ve represented here on their website, Sarut.com.

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The standout themes of this show were sustainability (and the definition and education of same), materials innovation, and color.

This last one, color, is of no surprise to my readers as that is what I earlier stated as one of the top 5 2009-10 top trends (color cornucopia), and for that matter sustainability will be of no surprise to either my readers or my clients–the fact that housewares companies stepped up their game for all of the above is surprising though as aside from tabletop a lot of the housewares companies stick with their same programs for as long as they can. In other words, innovation has NOT been a hallmark of this industry, but I will say that this show in Chicago has most definitely and finally changed with the times.

That said, there are stand-out companies who have exemplified the attributes of these themes above and beyond, and that is how I hope to personalize each of the aforementioned themes (trends if you will) of the show.

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Color Palettes and what the color trends are for 2009, 2010, and beyond is a hot topic right now among design and product development professionals round the world.

I’ve come across something that defies a color palette trend per se….the trend is more like asking the question, “How shall we define color?” and then coming up with an answer. That is what Melbourne-based artist Samantha Parsons did by coming up with the “Book Screen,” (above image) a room divider made from vintage hardback book covers that span the chromatic scale. For enquiries on how to purchase this, contact www.formatfurniture.com, or you can email me and I will be happy to give you the sales managers direct email address. Parsons has hit on two solid ideas…..crafting a room divider that is useful as well as artful, and using a color palette that doesn’t end the color question but begins it.

You decide, and let me know what you’re questions are. The lines are now open.

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I have a prediction for me for 2008 and that is that this is going to be a year of firsts; everything I am coming across of late just tops it all. This latest one is from Discovery News and I think I’ll be throwing many things out once this gets to market cause it solves just about all of my desktop organizational problems; Smart Quickie Notes Organize Themselves (and other uses for RFID tags): an official solution to the ubiquitous Post-It-Note.

Read On….

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